Top Five Reflections and Goals, 2016

To finish off 2016, I'm taking a moment to reflect back on the sewing year and to set some goals for the next.

 image via British Library flickr stream

Reflections

• Having a #sewingfail (or 3 in a row) really cramped my sewing style this year. I have to keep on without letting non-successful projects get me down.

• When I enter contests or even sew-alongs I get sewing block - I don't think they are for me!
  
• But, I also need a workplan so I always have a project in the queue. That way I will always have the next thing ready to pick up and won't waste time procrastinating on making a decision about what to start!

via Library of Congress flickr stream

Goals

1. Use my stash. My experience of having to move my sewing supplies out of my sewing area and back this fall meant I really experienced how much I have in my stash. I could sew all year without buying a single piece of fabric. That's most likely not going to stop me from doing so, but, I am aiming to use more stash than I add this year.

2. Make something for my husband. I've been promising him something for a while now, so it's time to bite the bullet and start a menswear project (thinking of Vogue 8987 right now)

3. Watch my Craftsy classes! I've probably got about 20 classes and have only watched 5 all the way though. Time to get busy with the learning!

4. Keep learning new skills - see #3!

5. Tangential to my sewing goals is a desire to improve my blog layout and photography skills. This one is a nonessential but one I still want to try to get to.

Musician June Christy sewing, via Library of Congress flickr stream

So that's what my sewing year looks like in retrospect, and I'm hoping when I do this exercise next year I'll be able to reflect that I've met some of these goals.

Wishing you all the best ever sewing year ahead!

The Mystery of the Singer Sewing Machine...Solved!

Last summer I shared a story about my mother's inherited Singer sewing machine, and how she's had it for years but had never been able to get all the drawers open.

 

This summer I visited my parents. And those questions a year ago had made my mother curious. Seeing as how she is pretty handy, she examined the locked drawers and had an epiphany. The keyholes looked to be about the same size and shape as a square-head screwdriver.

Lo and behold.....

To our chagrin (and perhaps a faint relief?) there were no dark family secrets hidden inside, but no excess of ephemera either. There was, however, the original manual, and the original oilcan.

 

We seem to have estimated correctly -- the model was indeed from the 1910's but as the latest copyright of the manual was in the 30's we are probably correct that Granny Emma bought it around then. 

The 1913 model -- booklet's latest copyright date was 1934 though, so it was still going strong!

My mother also had the set of attachments that her stepmother Emma had clearly bought later on, as they are marked as made for a later model. But there were many more feet than I have for my modern machine -- all stored in their own special vintage box!

I covet her ruffler, and bias binding foot. And so many more...I could barely identify them all! 

You can see the little bag she sewed to store them in...it's pretty holey now

Just look at how complicated that ruffler foot is!

We had fun looking through the guide to all the feet.

The manual found with the feet...for a later model, with knee control (which we didn't have)

 

We were also greatly entertained by the illustrated instructions for the non-present knee lever (is that what inspired my new haircut?)

Finally...a mystery solved, and a lot of fascinating sewing history uncovered. Granny Emma's deep dark secrets, however, are still her own...

The machine tucked back up into its original factory paper wrapping

Vintage Workbasket gems

In the recent batch of embroidery patterns and suchlike sent to me by my Mom -- as she was clearing out her craft space by shifting it into mine ;) -- there were a couple of old Workbasket magazines from the late 60s, early 70s. I don't know if you remember these, but I was addicted to reading my Mom and Grandma's old issues when I was a kid. I loved all the craft ideas, even if they were out of date even then.

I never really noticed the sewing content when I was young, as I wasn't yet an active sewist like I am now. But it was super fun to look through the four issues that were in my parcel and remember all the crafts I'd made from them...even if we might now label them as crafts of the "Pinterest fail" kind! Great memories of non-perfectionist fun in my childhood.

Something I noticed this time around, though, was the hilarious advertisements lining the pages. The delicious recipes. And of course, the sewing. While there are craft instructions, recipes, and knitting patterns included in the magazine, the sewing element are just line drawings of the latest dresses with instructions on how to order. Sadly, it seems none of the women in my family ever ordered any. But they are lovely to look at for inspiration, nonetheless. Take a peek!

Knitting for a sporty look

Important concerns...

No mincing words here

Delicious jello molds!

Who knew accordions were such a hot item?

Dial yourself a dress!

One look at the sewing tips and options for fashion
(more to come...)

New Year's Sewing Resolutions

Fancy tree made by a coworker -- such fun!

As this year comes to a close, I'm looking back and realizing that I'm a slow and steady kind of sewist. I pushed myself in the middle of the year and then backed off for a while...so my primary resolution for 2015 is:

1. Slow and steady. Be the tortoise, not the hare.
Easier said than done, when I feast my eyes on all the wonderful patterns out there that I just want to make NOW. But when I'm overwhelmed by choice, I end up not making anything at all. So...choose one and make it start to finish.

2. And in a related resolution -- get back on track with my Make a Garment a Month challenge. Having the support of other sewists who are doing the same is really helpful. I must continue!

3. Another related resolution -- finish those UFOs one way or another. Finish sewing them, or decide to let them go.

4. My final resolution: learn new skills.
I have signed up for a number of Craftsy classes and I'm halfway through a couple of them. I want to watch them in full, and then work through them to learn better fitting skills, and some new tricks and tips as well.

5, And another extra one -- keep going with my embroidery and get enough practice in to actually get good at it!



Those are my sewing goals. I have so many patterns and so many lengths of fabric in my sewing corner that I've got to get some projects made just to keep from being buried under a fabri-lanche.

I wish all my fellow sewists a very happy New Year and abundant Sew-Jo in the months ahead!

Fun long-distance gift from my best friend. Does she know me or what!

Text Talk

Since my big sewing blowout in July, I haven't been doing a lot of actual sewing. I've bought fabric, and cut lots of patterns out in preparation, I've been taking some online classes, I've even bought and prepped some new patterns. But the sitting down and sewing hasn't been happening enough. This time of year, though, is a really busy time for my other passion -- books.

Fall brings a huge list of new releases that I have to read. Yes, have to. For my job (librarian) and various committees I belong to, I have a reading list that I must get to. And of course, there is all that pleasure reading to squeeze in as well! 

Here are a few great titles that have come my way in the past while, things I've read and things I want to read.

First off, there is a new release, a book of essays called Women in Clothes. How could I NOT want to read this one immediately? The publisher synopsis states that "Women in Clothes explores the wide range of motives that inform how women present themselves through clothes, and what style really means." To make it even more irresistible, their website is amazing. You can read the surveys that this book is based on, and you can even fill out the survey yourself. Even if you don't want to take the time to fill out all 83 questions, do look at it -- there are many thought-provoking questions about our style, clothing preferences, and the deeper meaning behind it all.


I've also just picked up a copy of Tim Gunn: A Guide to Quality, Taste and Style and read through it. Gunn is well known as a fashion leader, and his advice is very specific -- know your style, dress appropriately, don't make the fashion faux pas that he makes clear in his text. It's a bit of a fluff read, especially the chapter of fashion mentors (find your style maven and follow her example -- all the usual suspects -- Marilyn, the Hepburns, etc.) But it was still entertaining, and I certainly share his horror at people wearing pyjama pants in public. 

This book actually reminded me of another book from 1938, Margaretta Byers' Designing Women, all about how to dress your age elegantly and affordably.


There are many fashion/design books on my radar lately. I've also just finished Diana Vreeland's "D.V." -- while she is fascinating and of course full of crazy stories, I was exhausted just reading this book -- I can't imagine spending time in her actual presence! She's been described as eccentric and imperious. And I can see why after reading this one...

But I've also been reading and reviewing a few others books that may be of interest to sewing readers, over at my regular book blog. I've just read a very interesting Canadian memoir called Measure of a Man, by JJ Lee (my review here) -- it's a blend of personal and professional, as Lee talks about suits and the memory of his own father. Really an excellent read; I hope you'll check out the original review for more of my thoughts on it, plus some links to some of the neat stuff that JJ Lee does besides writing memoirs (including a radio show about our clothing choices). 

And one last mention of a book I read a while back and really enjoyed -- I think I might have mentioned it here before -- I've seen it making the rounds of a few of the sewing blogs, but wanted to throw my recommendation in as well -- Linda Przybyszewski's The Lost Art of Dress. (my review here) It was informative, entertaining, thoughtful, and full of great notes that led me to other reading (like "Designing Women" above). Definitely worth a look, so do try to get your hands on this one if you can.

That's it for this round of Text Talk. I'm sure I'm have more to share fairly soon. It's not like I ever stop reading ;)

So Much Sewing: Some Thoughts

So as my regular readers may have noticed by now, in the month of July I was sewing up a storm. I signed up for the Pattern Stash contest at Pattern Review, hoping to inspire myself to get to some of those older patterns in my stash that looked good to me at the time but somehow never made it out of the envelope.

I discovered a few things about myself and my sewing while participating in a contest like this.



On the positive side, I did make 15 patterns! That is, quite literally, 5 times my normal output; usually if I make 3 things a month I feel impressed with myself. Only a couple of the things I tried this month were items that I ended up not liking -- most of them were really satisfactory. Out of everything that I sewed up, I think I'll be most likely to want to make these ones again:

Vogue 1247 -- a well-fitting, practical skirt
New Look 6977 -- an easy and pretty skirt
Simplicity 3790 -- wonderful pullover top that fits well
Kwik Sew 3756 -- unusual neckline, easy top -- it's all good
Kwik Sew 3559 -- the first thing I made this month; and it's been worn at least 10 times so far. Great pattern, wonderfully useful top. Definitely making this one again.

I enjoyed sifting through my older stash of patterns and matching them up with fabric stash -- got lots of ideas and even decided to give away some fabric that I didn't like anymore. Plus, I used nearly 19.5 yards of the stash in this month's sewing! I enjoyed having a deadline of sorts to keep me focused on my sewing, and I enjoyed how it helped me to stop dithering and just cut a pattern out already ;) I discovered that I like cutting out the next few projects all at once and then having them ready to go, even if I will be limiting that to only 3 projects cut out at once in future, to avoid the dreaded UFO.

However, this hyper-focus on sewing is not sustainable in my lifestyle. I also discovered this month that I am a slow sewer. To get 15 items sewn (many of which were "quick and easy" patterns) I had to spend the vast majority of my available time sewing. While I of course love to sew, I also have other things that need doing, and most of those things were entirely neglected this month -- and I'll be playing catch-up for the next week or so.

I also find that whenever I place myself under an obligation to do something (no matter what it is) I immediately begin to feel less excited about doing it. I don't want to rob myself of the joy of sewing, which is why I do it, so I don't think these kinds of competitions are in my future. Plus I don't like the feeling of comparing myself to others that contests engender, or the anxiety of not doing as much as I had thought I could...

Another element is that these kind of quantity contests mean you're in a rush and whipping things up -- and I found that I'm not interested in just making something for the sake of making it; I want to take more time over the things I'm making, and learn things with each project, and go the extra bit to line a skirt or add a nice seam finish, or rip out a zipper and do it over again. Or take on a difficult pattern and spend the whole month just fitting it and testing it. So while I did have fun this month, I have to accept that I am not a rapid stitcher who can turn things out instantly.

Despite all this, I thought this was a valuable experience -- I learned to think about sewing more consciously, and was able to make up some items that I was just not getting to, due only to procrastination. I streamlined my crowded sewing space to make it more functional, and went through my pattern and fabric stashes. I was inspired by other participants' makes and their sewing habits. Now to incorporate that into a more normal schedule for all that sewing ahead!

All photos via British Library on Flickr

Holiday reading, drinking, and sewing

This week we had a work-free break, thanks to Canada Day on July 1 -- it's always a bit strange to have a day off mid-week, I'm never sure what day it is for the rest of the week! But I'll take a holiday anytime :)

It also coincided with the celebration of Pattern Review's new web redesign, in which we were encouraged to lift a glass in their honour. Fortunately, the PR Cocktail was also bright red (a vodka & cranberry, also coincidentally my favourite) so I could celebrate Canada Day and PR all together.

Cheers!

I was also reading a Canadian novel (of course) while relaxing, called After Alice, and funnily enough, though the book's theme is not really related to this excerpt, I came across this description:

Through the tissue, the plastic, she sees swatches of fabric, and with almost no hesitation, her memory fills in the rest. Blue broadcloth, mint-green poplin, white pique. Candy-pink madras plaid, blue gingham, blue seersucker. 

Dresses that Alice had made herself; the last years she was at home, the dining room table was perpetually covered with pattern tissue and fabric yardage, as if it were the back room of a dressmaker's shop. And the dresses were lovely, were confections. All with fitted bodices, full skirts; that was the style. Only the necklines and sleeves and collars changed, and Alice drew and adapted these constantly. It was a serious business. Women's magazines elaborated at length on the correct choice of neckline for face shape. The collars and necklines all had names: Peter Pan, portrait, sweetheart. A whole culture of neck openings.

And Alice's clothes were so much a product of her imagination and labour that they might justly be seen as an extension of her. Though they were also the taste of that particular era. Art and packaging at once. Well, that might say something about a woman's lot. 

During much of the last week, my dining room table has also been awash in pattern tissue and fabric! On my day off I was starting my run at Pattern Review's Pattern Stash contest. The goal is to use some of those patterns you've had sitting in the stash since before the beginning of this year, at least. I have so many 'must have' patterns that I bought and then never made up; while I highly doubt that I will win this contest (I am a relatively slow sewist) I thought this would be a great push to get to some of those neglected patterns! I'm also trying to use up lots of my fabric stash in this project as it is starting to get a little out of hand (although that didn't stop me from buying the last 3 metres of a fabulous navy/orange denim at my local fabric shop today...)

So for the last couple of of nights, I've been choosing and cutting out patterns -- my plan for the weekend is to start sewing them up -- here's the prepared stack waiting for the morning. I'm hoping to get all of these made up this month but we will see.

Hope you are all having some relaxing sewing adventures during this holiday week, whether you're a fellow Canadian or are celebrating south of the border.